Engaging Students in Scholarly Conversation

Doug Achterman Gavilan College

September 2014

“The Explorer” by Nevenka Mazic licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Ideas for Exploration • What are the theoretical underpinnings for

scholarship as a conversation? • How is a scholarly conversation like other

conversations? • How is a scholarly conversation unlike other

conversations? • What are the codes and practices for discourse in

your discipline? • How might metacognition around our own

processes inform our teaching and learning? • What are some promising strategies for engaging

students in a scholarly conversation?

What Else?

Discourses: Ways of combining and coordinating words, deeds, thoughts, values, bodies, objects, tools, and technologies, and other people…so as to enact and recognize specific socially situated identities and activities. Gee, J.P. (May, 2001). Reading as situated language: A sociocogitive perspective. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 44(8), 714-725.

Gee, 2001, pp.721-722 Important ideas and information in the text (p.)

My thoughts, feelings, comments, questions:

Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008

Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008

May develop concurrently

Talk to the Text (p.109 Reading for Understanding)

• Model first w/doc cam or overhead projector • Review questions and reading strategies you

want them to use – Predictions – Questions – Reactions – Connections to other things they’ve read/heard

• Make the invisible visible: Tell students Good readers are in the habit of talking to the text in their head. This is a way to adopt this orientation.

Scholarly Conversation Occurs In

• Reading • Writing • Research/Inquiry • Speaking • ???

Abstract In recent years there has been an enormous growth of interest in synthetic genomics and synthetic biology, which we collectively refer to as the synthetic life sciences. Rapid progress in this field has enabled the synthesis of biomolecules, whole genomes, and even simple life forms, raising hopes for the development of new bioproducts capable of addressing a wide range of ecological, technological, and biomedical challenges. However, the synthetic life sciences also pose a number of biosecurity and biosafety risks. Numerous regulatory options for the control of synthetic life sciences have been advanced. In this piece, the authors discuss one of those regulatory options: control of trade in DNA sequences.

After reviewing the most commonly advanced proposals for regulation of the DNA sequence trade, they consider whether a clearinghouse for centralizing the oversight of all DNA sequence ordering would provide a better means of regulating the DNA sequence trade. They conclude that though a clearinghouse could potentially provide a promising means of regulation, the technology required for an effective clearinghouse is not currently available. Current policy making should be partly concerned with ensuring development of adequate technology for regulation in the future.

Talk it Over • Share the notes you made

with your partner. • Listen to your partner’s

comments. • Add to your own notes. • What questions, comments,

observations did you share?

Synthetic genomics is the chemical synthesis of DNA sequences. The synthesized sequences can already exist-- for example, the chemical synthesis of genes naturally found in an organism--or it can involve the synthesis of novel DNA sequence--that is, the synthesis of a gene that incorporates a specific man-made alteration. Synthetic biology, however, is both the design and construction of new biological parts, devices, and systems and the redesign of existing natural biological systems for useful purposes. Because the synthetic life sciences may enable the synthesis of biomolecules, whole genomes, and even simple life forms, these sciences have enormous potential, as they may logically be applied to any area of science or biomedicine that utilizes or works with genetic components, including pharmaceutical development, fuel production, detoxification of chemicals, genetic therapy, and environmental control.

The synthetic life sciences are not entirely benign, however, and they pose a dual-use dilemma: While they may be used for societal good, they may also be used by malicious individuals, like terrorists, to cause harm and incite panic. In particular, critics of the synthetic life sciences worry that this technology enables the synthesis of pathogenic agents that could be used as or in biological weapons, allowing would-be bioweaponeers to create biological weapons agents, such as Ebola or smallpox, which would otherwise be difficult to obtain. This kind of danger has been highlighted repeatedly: In 2002, a group of researchers at the State University of New York in Stony Brook produced the first synthetic virus upon artificially synthesizing a functional poliovirus (Cello et al., 2002); in 2005, researchers at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York reconstructed the 1918 Spanish flu virus (Kaiser, 2005); and in 2008 they synthesized a bat virus (a SARS-like coronavirus), which closely resembles and is the likely progenitor of the human SARS epidemic (Becker et al., 2008).

They Say/I Say

Conventions in scholarly conversations across disciplines.

Templates for participating in scholarly conversation

Introducing What an Author Says • X acknowledges that _____________. • X argues that _____________. • X claims that _____________. • X questions whether _____________. • X suggests that _____________. Introducing an Ongoing Debate When it comes to the topic of ________, most of us will readily agree that __________. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of _____________. While some are convinced that _____________, others believe that _____________. Disagreeing, with Reasons (i.e., They are just wrong) By focusing on _______________, X overlooks the deeper problem of ________________.

Summarizing

Howard, Rebecca Moore, Tanya K. Rodrigue, and Tricia C. Serviss. “Writing from Sources, Writing from Sentences.” Writing and Pedagogy 2.2 (Fall 2010): 177-192.[http://writing.byu.edu/static/documents/org/1176.pdf]

”Instead of summary, which is highly valued in academic writing and is promoted in composition textbooks, the students paraphrased, copied from, or patchwrote from individual sentences in their sources.”

Holliday, W. & Rogers, J. (2013) Talking about information literacy: The mediating role of discourse in a college writing classroom. Libraries and the Academy 13(3), 257-271.

Research: Finding Sources

Vs. Building

Understanding

What am I

looking for? Vs.

What do I need to learn about

my topic?

Extensive Academic Reading

• Vertical Text Sets same content at a range of difficulty levels

• Horizontal text sets: extend or provide background around a core text

Your librarians can help you collect these around a topic/theme/unit

Final Thoughts

• How does “apprenticeship” change the model?